Nanotech Sector is Breeding Ground
Published Apr 15, 2008
The University at Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science & Engineering boasts the only 300mm wafer cleanrooms at any university in the world.
When renowned science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke wrote in 1961 that “any significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” the word nanotechnology didn’t exist, much less the science. Less than a half-century later, Tech Valley is building a booming economy based on nanotechnology, and that’s magical indeed.
While nanotechnology is science at the tiniest of scales – a nano is one-billionth of a meter – the payoff is huge, particularly when it comes to fabrication of semiconductor devices at the heart of computing.
SEMATECH’s Big News
The region’s success in nurturing and luring nanotech enterprises rivals more established locations such as Silicon Valley, Austin and Boston. And International SEMATECH’s announcement in May 2007 that it will locate its headquarters and expand operations in Albany rocked the nanotech world.
SEMATECH, an acronym for Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology, is a consortium of 15 semiconductor manufacturers representing 50 percent of the worldwide chip market and serving as a catalyst to fast track research to commercialization. SEMATECH began increasing its Albany numbers from 250 employees to 700 in July.
“International SEMATECH is globally recognized as a leader in nanoelectronics research and development. The fact that the organization will locate its headquarters in Albany sends out a strong message that Albany and New York State are a major player in the world of nanotechnology,” says Steve Janack, assistant vice president of marketing and communications for the University at Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science & Engineering.
The college was named the best on the planet for nanotechnology and microtechnology in the May/June 2007 issue of Small Times, the industry’s leading publication.
SEMATECH members include big names like IBM, intel, Hewlett Packard, Texas Instruments and Advanced Micro Devices, which announced in 2006 that it is considering construction of a 1,200-employee microprocessor production facility at the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Malta. Based on an agreement with the state, AMD has until July 2009 to initiate the $5 billion project.
“In the meantime, we’ve done quite a bit of work already,” says Travis Bullard, AMD senior public relations representative. The company has been working with state and local officials, consultants and a general contractor to craft a design review, which Bullard describes as “rough draft of what the fab would look like.”
Luther Forest Moving Forward
Luther Forest is moving ahead as well. “We are planning on it. We are in regular contact with AMD, and we are acting all along the way that their plans for Luther Forest have not changed,” says Michael Relyea, Luther Forest executive director. AMD would be the first tenant at the campus, which would be able to accommodate any AMD expansion plans, he adds.
The proposed AMD facility would be the company’s first fab outside of Dresden, Germany. Bullard says the company searched Europe, Asia and North America for a site and decided Tech Valley was “an ideal place for us, primarily because of the well-established, high-tech educational infrastructures. … We’ll need about 1,000 technicians who are skilled to work in our cleanroom facility there at Luther Forest.”
The Watervliet Arsenal, building on its military-based technology credentials, is yet another potential locale for high-tech players. In July 2007, Vistec Lithography completed the relocation of its global headquarters from Cambridge, England, to the Arsenal’s Technology Campus. Vistec will conduct research and development in conjunction with the new Center for Nanolithography Development at the UAlbany NanoCollege, where the company already had an office. Jim Joyce, senior human resources manager, says the region’s technology reputation and “the future of this area regarding nanotechnology” prompted Vistec’s decision. The company is expected to invest $125 million and eventually create as many as 130 jobs.
It’s magic, you know.
Story by Sharon H. Fitzgerald
Photo by CSNE
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